On This Day In Judy Garland’s Life And Career – September 10

“Adoring audiences like I do, to have them give back that sort of affection, suddenly I feel it’s absolutely marvelous to be Judy Garland. I’m so proud to give people even just a moment of fun, to take their minds off their worries.” – Judy Garland, 1967

September 10, 1937: Here’s another trade ad sent out by MGM promoting Broadway Melody of 1938.

September 10, 1939: Judy models the latest in teen fashion. Judy Garland’s afternoon velvet shown here today is typical of the Lord Fauntleroy persuasion which is this season’s vogue. Notice, too, that Judy has not added piles of junk jewelry to her ensemble; there seems to be a fine point which distinguishes generations in this omission. You’ll notice it, if you watch the necklines.

September 10, 1939: A Judy potpourri

September 10, 1940: A busy day for Judy at MGM. She had an 11 a.m. call for work on Little Nelly Kelly and did not finish her day until 6:32 p.m. During that time she managed to participate in a dance rehearsal and the pre-recording of two songs: “A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow” (the 1st version as sung by the adult Nellie Kelly early in the film); and “Danny Boy.” That latter was cut from the film prior to its release. No footage survives.

The assistant director’s notes state: “Rehearse Dance and record… Note: Miss Garland was called to record at 11 a.m. and to be on stage at 4 p.m. to rehearse dance – She arrived on the stage at 4:40 p.m. – Miss Garland was with Mr. Freed.”

Also recorded on this day was a Douglas McPhail solo, “You Remind Me of My Mother” which was unused. The recording is not known to exist. McPhail played the Little Nellie Kelly’s love interest.

September 10, 1941: Judy pre-recorded “Chin Up! Cheerio! Carry On!” for Babes on Broadway. The session began at 12:30 p.m. and ended at 5:50 p.m.

Also recorded on this date was a “Peters Bros. routine” for the “Hoe Down” number. There is no “Peters Bros.” segment in the number, but it’s possible this recording was used for an ultimately deleted segment of the “block party” sequence. The photo above is an MGM promotional pic for the film featuring the “block party” sequence and who are most likely the “Peters Bros.” doing their deleted routine. The prerecording is not known to exist. Photo provided by Kim Lundgreen. Thanks, Kim!

September 10, 1943: This article from the Philadelphia Enquirer describes in great detail the Third War Loan events of the previous day (with a great photo of the crowds), of which Judy and many other stars were a part of, via their “Hollywood Cavalcade” Bond Tour. The event raised $60,000,000 in one day (this is in 1943 dollars – that’s quite a lot of donations!).

A galaxy of Hollywood stars and starlets came to Philadelphia yesterday to launch the Nations’ Third War Loan, but the real stars of the show – one of the biggest Philadelphia has ever staged – were the thousands upon thousands of citizens who made purchases of War Bonds.

September 10, 1943: These photos were taken of Judy in Boston during the parade in which she and the rest of the stars of the “Hollywood Cavalcade” Bond Tour participated. This was the third stop on their whirlwind 16 city tour to raise money for the war effort.

The first photo is a clipping from the Wilkes Barre (Pennsylvania) Times Leader noting the tour’s appearance in Philadelphia the day before and singling out Judy.

The second photo is notable as one of the few that show Judy with her “best friend” of the time, Betty Asher. Asher is seen in the front of Judy facing the camera. Asher is well known to Garland fans. She was an MGM spy who pretended to be best friends with Judy but in reality, was reporting Judy’s activities back to the studio. When Judy found out, she was (quite naturally) devastated. Asher accompanied Judy on this trip, along with Judy’s sister.

September 10, 1945: Judy was at the Decca Records studios from 2 to 4:40 p.m. recording another version of “On The Atchison, Topeka, And The Santa Fe.” This was the final recording session for Decca’s “cast album” of songs from MGM’s upcoming Garland musical The Harvey Girls.

Recorded on this day was the shorter Garland-only version which does not include the choral intro and has a shorter ending than the original recording made on May 15, 1945. This new recording is the version released on 78 as part of the original “Decca Cast Album” of songs from the film.

When the cast album was re-released on LP in the 1950s, Decca mistakenly used the rejected May 15, 1945, version of Part 2 (the Garland section of the song). This September re-recording of Part 2 was not released in the United States on LP until 1984 when it was included on the MCA Records LP “Judy Garland – From The Decca Vaults.” It begins with Judy singing “What A Lovely Day” (instead of “What A Lovely Trip” as in the film and the May recording) and ends with the “short tag” (no repeat of the song title as in the May recording and the film).

This September 10 recording is also the version included in the 1994 CD boxed set “Judy Garland – The Complete Decca Masters (plus),” coupled with the previously unreleased chorus Part 1 from May 15, 1945 – as originally intended for the 78 album before being cut along with “March of the Doagies.”

Photos above: The Decca test record; the U.S. release version; the Canadian release version. All images are from The Rick Smith Collection. Thanks, Rick!

September 10, 1948: The second preview of MGM’s musical biopic Words and Music. At this point, Judy’s guest appearance consisted of just one song, her duet with Mickey Rooney of “I Wish I Were In Love Again.” Preview audiences overwhelmingly requested a Garland encore. Two weeks later Judy was back at the studio rehearsing, recording, then filming “Johnny One Note” as an encore.

In the time between the filming of the two numbers, Judy had begun work on The Barkleys of Broadway but was removed due to her precarious health situation coupled with a physical and mental breakdown. She received much-needed rest and was able to gain weight. The change in appearance is noticeable in Words and Music in spite of the fact that in the plot the two numbers were performed at the same party. Audiences didn’t mind because in spite of her behind-the-scenes issues Judy performed brilliantly. Reviewers of the film singled her out as one of the highlights in an otherwise long and slightly boring film.

After its release columnists reported that Mickey Rooney was complaining to MGM that the ads for the film listed Judy’s name above his even though he was the star of the film and she provided a short guest appearance. Judy was by far the bigger star at this time and Rooney’s was fading. The ads (see example above) actually listed all of the guest stars in alphabetical order with Rooney’s name the only one of the film’s lead and supporting stars included with them. The implication being that Rooney was a guest star and not the lead. In spite of this, Rooney and Garland remained the closest of friends for the rest of their lives.

September 10, 1950: The lovely MGM glamour shot of Judy, plus a notice that Judy was planning on going to England to possibly make a film. It’s not far off, Judy traveled to England in March of 1951 and restarted her career at The London Palladium on April 9, 1951.

September 10, 1953: Judy accompanied Sid Luft at his court appearance. Sid’s ex-wife, Lynn Bari, had petitioned the court to hold Sid in contempt. Bari alleged that Sid had not disclosed his increased income for the previous year. In other words, she wanted more money in child support. The judge threw the case out.

September 10, 1955:A Star Is Born had made its way to Australia, prompting this article in “The Argus” about Judy’s ups and downs, including the famous quote attributed to her: “I was born at the age of 12 on the MGM lot. From that day to this they never stopped working me. They took away my childhood, took away my leisure. I’ve never had time to play. It got me so that I couldn’t stand it anymore!”

September 10, 1964: Judy’s daughter, Liza Minnelli, arrived in London to spend the week with Judy and Mark Herron. At the time the papers were reporting that Judy and Liza would do a television special together in London and that Judy and Mark were to co-star in a television comedy called It’s Better in the Dark for ABC-TV, to be filmed in London. Neither project materialized, although Judy and Liza did eventually work together when they gave their now famous concerts at The London Palladium on November 8 and 15th.

Photos: Liza, Judy, and Mark Herron during rehearsals for the Palladium concerts; Judy and Liza in 1965.

September 10, 1967: Two notices for Judy’s upcoming appearance at Clowes Hall in Indianapolis, Indiana.

September 10, 1967: Two interesting articles. One is a bit of a “fluff” piece that mentions Judy’s favorite dish to make, shepherd’s pie. “Get Judy to tell you how she makes her shepherd’s pie,” says a male member of Judy’s entourage, signaling the visitor into the star’s dressing room. “She uses every pot in the kitchen.”

The second article raves about Judy’s latest comeback with her Palace show and subsequent tour.